Bandile Mdlalose

Bandile Mdlalose was the general secretary of the South African shackdwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo. She is now the President of Community Justice Movement which operates in some informal settlements of Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal. She is also the National Working Committee member of the United Front, elected in December 2014.^[1] She made it into the Mail & Guardian Book of Women for 2012^[2] and was labelled one of South Africa's top 20 youth by Youth Village.^[3]

Arrest in 2013

In October 2013, Bandile Mdlalose was arrested on a charge of public violence. The arrest was riddled with controversy as Abahlali baseMjondolo and commentators labeled the arrest as politically motivated and without merit.^[1][4] She had trouble receiving bail but was eventually granted bail of R5,000 on the condition that she not return to Cato Crest.^[5][6]

Philosophy

Bandile Mdlalose has recently written that South Africans "live in a Democratic Prison" because democracy is used to send police and private security to evict poor people and "smash" their struggles.^[7] She also wrote an article after her arrest called "Seven days in Prison".

She has also been widely quoted as saying:

“NORMALLY, it is seen that the poor are poor in mind and that everything needs to be thought for us. But poverty is not stupidity, it is a lack of money. And we always remind people that the same system that made the rich rich has made the poor poor. We are still fighting to insist that there should be nothing for us without us. No one has a right to make decisions for us while we still have a mouth and mind to use."^[8]

She has argued that the price of silence is higher than the price of struggle.^[9]

She is also critical of electoral politics and has argued that: "Once you become a political party or when you contest the elections, you then become like them (the politicians)."^[10]

References